By Michael Allen on March 10, 2010
Iran’s Green Movement should reach out to the country’s workers to expand support amongst the country’s poor and working families, opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi said recently.
“The fate of the movement should be tied to the fate of all walks of life – in particular the two groups in charge of [the] economy and education, meaning [read full story]
Posted in Featured, Iran, Islam/politics, Labour/labor unions, Middle East and North Africa, Solidarity Center, solidarity |
By Michael Allen on March 9, 2010
The two front-runners following Iraq’s national election have both claimed victory even though the authorities have yet to announce the results.
The electoral commission will reveal partial results of the parliamentary elections on Wednesday, providing an insight into the balance of forces that will determine the shape of the next government.
The coalitions led by the Prime [read full story]
Posted in Elections, Featured, Fragile States, Iraq, Middle East and North Africa, democracy, democratization |
By Michael Allen on March 9, 2010
As elections loom, Ethiopia appears to be a relatively stable, prosperous nation in a turbulent neighborhood, writes Lauren Gelfand – “a bulwark against increasingly isolated and sanctioned Eritrea and a comparative oasis of calm compared to perennially chaotic Somalia.”
But human rights and democracy advocates experience one of the continent’s most repressive regimes. After the 2005 [read full story]
Posted in Africa, Ethiopia, Featured, Human rights, NGOs/Civil society, autocrats, democracy, democratization |
By Michael Allen on March 9, 2010
Contrary to recent portrayals of a self-confident, newly assertive China assuming its place as a global hegemon, the country’s leadership “is in crisis mode”, according to a new Stratfor analysis.
Meanwhile, the ruling Communist Party’s second-highest ranking official today conceded the danger of social instability, emphasizing that the regime’s priorities would be to enhance social security [read full story]
Posted in Asia, China, Featured, authoritarianism, autocrats, communist regimes, democratic reform, democratization, freedom of expression |
By Michael Allen on March 4, 2010
Are the recent arrests of leading Turkish military figures a pre-emptive blow against a “deep state” of secular elites planning a coup against the country’s democratically-elected government? Or do they signal the growing influence of radical Islamist forces determined to discredit a revered institution and breach the red lines that protect the country’s secular constitution?
As [read full story]
Posted in Featured, Islam and democracy, Islam/politics, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, Turkey, backsliding, democratization, promoting democracy |
By Michael Allen on March 3, 2010
The apparently stable advantage of democracy over autocracy disguises worrying erosion in the quality of democracy, a new analysis suggests.
Democracy has not lost its normative appeal, but even established democracies have experienced “significant setbacks” in the freedoms of assembly, association and the press, as well as declines in political participation, civil liberties and social capital, [read full story]
Posted in Africa, Analysis, Asia, China, Cuba, Cuba, Elections, Europe, Featured, Georgia, Kenya, Latin America and the Carribean, Middle East and North Africa, NGOs/Civil society, Russia, Turkey, Vietnam, authoritarianism, autocrats, backsliding, corruption, democracy, democracy and development, democratization, economic crisis, emerging democracies, freedom of expression, governance, media, rule of law |
By Michael Allen on March 1, 2010
As evidence emerges of Venezuela’s collusion with terrorist groups plotting to kill Colombia’s president, the documented erosion of the country’s democracy, the arrival of a leading apparatchik from Havana, are raising concerns about the country’s authoritarian trajectory.
Spain’s High Court today accused the Chávista regime of aiding Basque Eta rebels and the Colombian Farc in planning [read full story]
Posted in Featured, Human rights, Labour/labor unions, Latin America and the Carribean, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, Venezuela, authoritarianism, dissidents, media, populism |
By Michael Allen on February 25, 2010
After the death of a prominent dissident prompted international outrage, Cuba’s communist authorities have reacted with a crackdown on the island’s democracy advocates.
Political leaders and human rights groups deplored the passing of Orlando Zapata Tamayo and called on Havana to release political prisoners still in detention.
To forestall public protests at Zapata’s funeral, security services [read full story]
Posted in Cuba, Featured, Human rights, Latin America and the Carribean, communist regimes, democracy, dissidents, promoting democracy |
By Michael Allen on February 22, 2010
Many democracies have effectively abandoned human rights advocacy just as the world’s autocracies are becoming more assertive in promoting anti-democratic values and interests, writes Joshua Kurlantzick, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
In the United States, he writes, “the age of global human-rights advocacy has collapsed, giving way to an era of realism unseen [read full story]
Posted in Backlash, China, Democracy assistance, Eurasia, Featured, Human rights, Must Read, National Endowment for Democracy, Russia, authoritarianism, autocrats, democracy, democracy promotion, democracy support, democratization, foreign policy, promoting democracy |
By Michael Allen on February 16, 2010
The U.S. should use this week’s meeting between the Dalai Lama and President Barack Obama to reassert its leadership of the free world and its commitment to promoting democracy and human rights, a Washington briefing heard today.
Democracy advocates hope that the administration uses the occasion to embrace the Tibetan cause and articulate shared values and [read full story]
Posted in Asia, China, Democracy assistance, Featured, Human rights, National Endowment for Democracy, Tibet, authoritarianism, communist regimes, democracy promotion, democracy support, dissidents, foreign policy, promoting democracy, protests |
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